2 hours ago, Merry Berry said:What is her reasoning for leaving it out, exactly? I am with you that trying to handle room temperature dough is ugh.
I don't know, soft dough is easier in terms of strength requirements - rolling cold dough is a workout. She leaves butter and frosting (American buttercream, I think) out overnight, too. I'm secretly hoping one day the butter will fully melt and drip all over. Maybe in July, it hasn't gotten much above 80f in there yet. Personally, I keep my butter cold, if I need to cream it I'll cut it into pieces and by the time I've mised everything else out it's soft enough. If not I torch the bowl as it's beating. I'll let shortbread warm up a bit so it shatters less but I still want it cold enough to hold its shape. Doesn't almost every pastry dough recipe say to chill before rolling? Oh well, there's more than one way to bake a cookie.
Dough does go bad eventually, gets funky or cheesy after too long but I guess you all are right that it's not really that hazardous and baking will sterilize it anyway. As long as she pays her rent, I won't report her to the authorities 😂
